Keysi Fighting Method/ Justo Dieguez

Hello,

first off I am not trying to attack anyone, I am just looking for some info on this system, and its founder that has not come directly from the KFM monolith......from what I have seen of the system it is interesting and worth looking into, but the marketing and hype surrounding it is a bit overwhelming- the founders seem to have distanced themselves from their JKD and kali backgrounds (Andy and Justo were both registered instructors under Dan Inosanto) and now say that the art comes from Spanish Gypsies and was perfected by Justo while he was working down a mine.

Now, I don't know anything about Spanish gypsies but some parts of this story should be fairly easy to verify (for a Spanish speaker anyway):

Justo says he was born in October 1957, started mining at just under 13 and after 6 years was involved in a mining accident where everyone else died and he was trapped underground for 4 days. Should be easy to find info on a mine disaster, right?

Justo the says he joined the army special Forces and "He quickly became the top soldier within the special units".

Now, this is what has got me, and why I decided to start this thread- if Justo really was Spain's No. 1 soldier- fair play to the man, if not then that's the worst kind of BS, in my opinion....just my opinion, but this should be easy to verify, right?

I had no idea they had started making such insane claims. I did some searching and found no information on a supposed mine collapse in the 1970s. His Spanish SF claims may or may not be hard to confirm. I don't know the procedure there, but the way that little piece of fiction reads I seriously doubt that Justo knows anything about rank in the military, how one becomes an officer or NCO or what it means to lead an operation.

first off I am not trying to attack anyone, I am just looking for some info on this system, and its founder that has not come directly from the KFM monolith......from what I have seen of the system it is interesting and worth looking into, but the marketing and hype surrounding it is a bit overwhelming- the founders seem to have distanced themselves from their JKD and kali backgrounds (Andy and Justo were both registered instructors under Dan Inosanto) and now say that the art comes from Spanish Gypsies and was perfected by Justo while he was working down a mine.

Now, I don't know anything about Spanish gypsies but some parts of this story should be fairly easy to verify (for a Spanish speaker anyway):

Justo says he was born in October 1957, started mining at just under 13 and after 6 years was involved in a mining accident where everyone else died and he was trapped underground for 4 days. Should be easy to find info on a mine disaster, right?

Justo the says he joined the army special Forces and "He quickly became the top soldier within the special units".

Now, this is what has got me, and why I decided to start this thread- if Justo really was Spain's No. 1 soldier- fair play to the man, if not then that's the worst kind of BS, in my opinion....just my opinion, but this should be easy to verify, right?

Cheers

Originally Posted by spicyhaggis

Hello

I just thought I would put in my tuppence worth here.

I used to train KFM (I trained on and off for more than 2 years) before leaving after getting a bit sick of various things; after Batman Begins there seemed to be more and more emphasis on “flashy” techniques and movie screenfighting, and Andy and Justo seemed to be more concerned with Hollywood and making money. A lot of instructors seemed to leave at about the same time (the UK headquarters in Hull shut down).

I can’t verify either Andy or Justo’s credentials, although I believe Andy does study/ studied Machado BJJ and they both seem to have a JKD background. We used to be told ever more outlandish tales of Justo’s early days battling hordes of Spanish gypsies in mines. I was once told that Justo had been to jail for scooping out a guy’s eye and taking a bite out of it.

BS aside the class I trained at did spar and do drills of varying intensity under pressure and in locations such as stairwells, in the bogs, with multiple attackers etc. the only gripe with this was that the sparring was done with minimal protective equipment (cup, gumshield, 4oz mma gloves).

Of the techniques taught I liked the basics- the pensador stance I like and have been taught an identical cover in SBG. The weapons stuff was very effective and much more realistic than what I had come across in Kali. The groundwork is very street based and rolling with someone who can grab your nuts/ fish-hook and poke you in the eye is an eye-opener if nothing else. The aggressiveness of the system also suited me.

What I didn’t like was all the BS marketing hype, the politics, and a lot of the pointless, flashy moves- a lot of which seemed to rely on unrealistic timing and a non-resisting opponent.

I would recommend going along to try out a KFM class to anyone- I got a lot out of it. I wouldn’t however recommend anyone do it as their ONLY art- if you do MMA or similar then you can go and try some Keysi, learn how to adapt your techniques to make them a bit more effective for the street (and even then I would probably recommend Krav Maga over KFM if there’s a decent class near you). If you only train KFM, especially if you start training as a beginner to martial arts then you could well end up with one hell of a set of blinkers on, mindlessly hanging off Andy and Justo’s every edict. The OP’s comments were just about the first sensible ones I have seen from a KFM instructor on a MA forum.

It is fake- no real issues with Justo or KFM, other than the excessive marketing and hype surrounding the system, and I also have no real reason to believe that the claims made on the website aren't true, other than that I have heard a lot of mythologising regarding the man and the system, and the "number one soldier" claim seems to be a fairly new one.